Directing from the chair¶
Open Claude Code in the repository and describe what you want to make. The studio keeps the brief, decisions and next steps in your workspace so another session can pick them up. You can use it entirely through conversation; Studio and Review are optional ways to look at the work.
If this is your first session, follow setup and the internal rehearsal. Start with supplied practice media; no render account is required. Other clients: docs/clients/.
Bring the intent¶
Say who the work is for, what it should communicate, where it will appear, and what you want to explore. Story, campaign content and visual experiments are all valid starting points. References help; you do not need to choose a model or describe a filesystem.
We need an internal introduction to this project. Capture the brief, challenge anything unclear, and help me find the idea. Do not generate yet.
The assistant captures what you said, distinguishes decisions from possibilities, and names the next unresolved question. Ask it to read the brief back before it becomes a production assumption. Canon and identity information come from the approved sources; your personal material stays separate unless you explicitly choose to use it.
Choose how it collaborates¶
| Say | What you are asking for |
|---|---|
| “Riff with me.” | Explore possibilities together. |
| “Pull on that.” | Ask questions and develop the thread. |
| “Challenge this.” | Test motivation, clarity and weak assumptions. |
| “Just listen.” | Capture your words without redesigning them. |
| “Read it back.” | Reflect the current brief and decisions. |
| “Hold that thought.” / “Pick it up.” | Pause and return to the saved thread. |
Ask for a specific next action¶
Planning, drafting a prompt and saving a held cue do not authorize a render. When you want generation, name the intended result and scope. The assistant must complete the shared prompt, identity, phase and cost checks before execution. A local GPU job also needs its own clearance; zero credits does not make it automatic.
A request for one take does not authorize a series of retries. A previous approval does not carry forward to a changed prompt. If a check blocks the shot, the assistant should explain what is missing rather than silently choose another lane.
Judge exact takes¶
Open the supplied or generated media in whichever viewer is useful. Give a clear verdict naming the take:
Mark S1, version 1, take 2 as needs work. The entrance is too slow; record that note at 0:02.
The assistant writes the decision to the production files and reports the exact path. “Interesting” and silence are not approvals. Approval does not move or delete a workspace take; everything you have approved is collected for you in the production's selects folder, which is a view the studio rebuilds and never the record. Selecting a live take is a separate decision: say which approved version should represent the shot. Team comments on FreeFrame or Notion come back to you as notes and never count as your verdict. A changed verdict does not grant permission for another render.
Cuts can be assembled and exported in the session. Browser comparison and timeline tools are optional. An export is an encoded file; it is not a finishing or publishing verdict.
Close with a handoff¶
Save what we decided, the exact artifact paths, unresolved questions, and the next authorized step in this production's handoff. Tell me what the next session should read.
The next session should recover from those records. Do not rely on another client seeing your chat transcript or private memory. Raw transcript archiving follows the configured client-specific workflow; it is not automatically guaranteed by closing a session.
Finish and publish deliberately¶
Ask for the finishing gate when the cut is ready. It evaluates the shared edit, sound and grade requirements and records SHIP or HOLD. Ask for publishing separately, naming the piece and destination; the publish workflow checks the copy, artifact, channel and explicit cue.
Take approval, finishing approval and permission to publish remain separate decisions. Shared production rules live in CLAUDE.md, .claude/rules/creative-loop.md and the doctrine they reference. This guide does not duplicate model defaults or creative canon.